4 Answers

Hi Steffanie. Shedding is a normal part of a dog’s hair growth cycle and the amount of shedding varies between breeds and even between individual dogs within breeds. Is the amount of shedding at the moment more than usual for your boy? If so, then it may be worth having him looked at by your vet to make sure there isn’t any skin pathology that’s causing it.

Other than that, you can’t really stop shedding, but you can to some extent manage when it happens. Brushing or stripping the coat regularly means you can remove a lot of the loose hair before it gets dropped on your floor. Even a bath with a towel dry can help. Many dog owners swear by the Furminator for removing loose hair before it finds its way all over the floor.

There have been some suggestions that omega fatty acids such as those found in fish oils may help but there isn’t really any research to support its use for excess shedding. However, fish oil won’t do any harm to your dog if you want to try it; chat to your vet about what’s an appropriate dose for him. | 12.03.15 @ 21:03

Thank you. I seems to have gotten worse in the last few months, and I was thinking it may be related to his food? We switched to a slightly lower quality about 8 weeks ago. I will add the fish oil to his diet and see if that improves it. | 12.03.15 @ 23:16

Usually food sensitivities have itching as a main symptom but if you think diet might be contributing to the increased shedding then it may be worth doing a food trial. You'd need to feed a novel food for 12 weeks or so to see if shedding reduced. By novel food, I mean something your dog has never eaten before, as allergies develop to ingredients, usually proteins, they have been exposed to for some time. Sometimes dogs with dietary allergies have secondary bacterial or fungal infections and they can cause hair loss.. Check out this article for further info on skin issues: Skin Conditions 101 | 12.04.15 @ 02:04

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